SPREADING THE WORD

Since I've had an opportunity to be without work for a while I've given great thought as to what I should actually "DO" with my life. I haven't come up with a hard and fast idea yet, but I'm thinking really hard. In the meantime I've gotten some wonderful time to spend with my family just being a wife and mom.

I didn't realize that I'd sort of ditched my family to put them in line behind whatever my newspaper job required. For newspaper people it's an occupational hazard; you're listening, but with one ear tuned to hear things that could make an interesting story. "I'm with you but walk along with me because I'm heading over to whatever it is I think is REALLY important." "Is there anything that you're saying (child, husband, friend, shopkeeper) that could be the next best article-du-jour (that will earn me a pat on the head at my real job)." Like that. I hate to sound cliche' but it's true - I've gotten to spend time reacquainting myself with what's really important - my family, my real life.

My efforts lately are on my clay, knitting, painting, cooking and trying to get my Etsy shop seen. And, trying to find a job that really suits me and can keep me gainfully employed. As usual, my timing isn't the best. I'm not seeing any jobs that are interesting so I'm going to try to make my own and teach art/craft classes to children. Posters are in progress to slap up on my local utility poles and I'll have a sandwich board style sign in front of my church because I've pretty much gotten the okay to use our Sunday School classroom for my class. I'm really hoping that I get great response. It will be great fun to meet for a couple of hours a week and be creative.

I'll let you know how that goes as it's going. In the meantime, I've been knitting scarves for my practically all adult children, pictures attached.......I can knit....only a long rectangle, but I can do it, and evidently they like it because with each scarf I knitted, the other kids wanted to know why they didn't have one.

And I've been painting, picture-not-quite-done is also attached here. I've been invited to show some paintings at a salon show Feb. 12 so I've got much to do in finishing and framing. And I do really well when I'm down to the wire. I wouldn't recommend THAT to anyone, but I tend to thrive that way.

I'm off for now... helping decide on a Valentine Dinner menu, creating the tickets this morning to have them proofed by this afternoon, finishing knitting a scarf and baking a chocolate cake for my youngest young man whose birthday is today. Later I'll post some terrific websites I've found for really cool bags (that I amazingly do NOT want to try to make myself) and some wonderful resources that I'll be using in my artsy/craftsy curriculum.

So long for now,

Kate

Bird Work Interrupted By Seemingly Random Questions

I've been working non-stop, pretty much, to get ready for a showing of my birds that will be included in this month's Third Thursday Artwalk to be held downtown. I'm excited about being included and can't wait to show what I can do with a little clay and a brain that keeps me up at night.

Since I do not go to 'a place of work' to work, I don't interact that much with people these days. Most communication is computer based, or text based with the occasional real live phone call to my mother which is always great because we volley ideas around and I love it. She is the one who, along with her brother, my much beloved uncle, gave me my love and great appreciation for art in its many forms. I love texture you can touch, color that you see even when you close your eyes and many many different kinds of art. So it makes sense to me that I would try my hand at everything, settle with some things for a time and then move on.

For the time being, and the last couple of years, I've been enamored of clay and it's many ways to use it. Right now I'm about all things "bird," and I'll post some pictures of what I've been doing. My endeavors today will be to make cookie jars. Bird cookie jars... and I'll post pictures of them when I've got them to the drying point. I want to get at least a couple of them done before next week when I can actually show them to the public. We'll see how that goes.

So, since my interraction with people is fairly limited to the internet, I get blesses with some of these random questionnaires designed to help someone know me better. First thing the sender surely must understand about me is I am not, nor have I ever been, limited nor held in bondage to directions. Nope - I care not for directions and even less for recipes, although there have been a time or two that I could honestly say that they were helpful.

I'm still trying to figure out what the following questionnaire was designed for, I think the only thing anyone could tell about me from this is that I create my own rules for THEIR stuff, and that people are both my main annoyance, and my main delight. See for yourself. Bird pictures follow.

35 Seemingly Random Questions That Surely Must Indicate SOMEthing.

1.What time did you get up this morning? 8 a.m.
2. How do you like your steak? Medium-rare
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? “Julie and Julia,” loved it. And since I love the whole movie experience, I’ll go back and see it again. Before that, “The Ugly Truth,” clever and somewhat endearing but really, I mean really, do we need ALL the sexual innuendoes? Seriously? And before that was “The Proposal,” I say, completely without shame, that I’ve seen that three times at the theatre.
4. What is your favorite TV show? Right now? Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, Royal Pains (sort of), Joyce Meyer Ministries (because she offers great insight and it’s usually along my same lines of thinking). All About Jim….oh yeah, and that’s not the most embarrassing show I choose to watch – I love the New Jersey Housewives – I love it and …….and so what?
5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? I’d divide it up between Seattle, New York, Ojai and Alaska.
6. What did you have for breakfast? An antibiotic and a pain pill……..if this gets drooly, or I start typing with my forehead, that’s why.
7. What is your favorite cuisine? MexAmerItalian…. Will that count? Love all things taco but they run neck-and-neck with MY Perfect Cheeseburger……which I can send a picture of to your cell phone if you give me the number, and good pizzalasagnaspaghettirigatoni is always good. Mostly anything I make.
8. What foods do you dislike? Liver, and chicken liver, all things liver, and though I’d love to use beet juice for coloring fabric, the fruit of such will never pass over my lips. I don’t even know why they were made, but the color is beautiful.
9. Favorite Place to Eat? This little Mexican place right by the the state beach in San Luis Obispo that makes really good margaritas but even better, (yeah, I know, I’m an obvious ‘foodie’ )– they make the absolute best shredded beef stuffed chile rellenos! I’ve found nobody else who makes them, nobody! And are they great, oh yes …. And did I come home and try to do it myself? Oh yes. And was I successful? Definitely. And am I making this list of questions even better than it was? Of course,I always do, and I now turn the mic back over to you Kelly.

10. Favorite dressing? Paul Newman’s Ceasar, my own Thousand Island, and a newly homemade Ranch.

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? A ’95 Thunderbird, but my heart belongs to Volkswagen. But if I had a serious butt-load of cash, I’d be driving a Chevy Tahoe.

12. What are your favorite clothes? Bohemy (my word) skirt and t-shirt all the time.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Santa Fe – Oh shut up! I’m going there for the balloon races in October. Hello! Oh, so that means I have to choose another……the whole Eastern Seaboard…..and I want to see wherever it is The Outter Banks is. Why, you might ask? This is why – this one part of dialogue in "Message In A Bottle"- “To all the ships at sea and all the ports of call... to may family and to all friends and strangers - This is a message and a prayer. The message is that my travels taught me a great truth. I already had what everyone is searching for and few ever find. The person in the world who I was born to love forever, a person like me, of the outer banks and the blue Atlantic mystery; a person rich in simple treasures, self-made, self-taught, a harbor where I am forever home. And no wind or trouble or even a little death can knock down this kind of love and be healed by it. If my prayer is heard, then there will be an erasing of all guilt and all regret, and an end to all anger. . . . “.
14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? 3/4 full, and I've got another one in the cupboard.
15. Where would you want to retire? Santa Barbara

16. Favorite time of day? Early morning, late at night. The middle of the day is no creamy filling to me.

17. Where were you born? Pasadena, Ca.

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Surfing, all surfing, all the time.

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? Beats me.

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? I have no expectations.

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? Everyone!

22. Bird watcher? Why thank you, I love to watch birds.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? Yes.

24. Do you have any pets? Yes

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? Hmmm……….can’t think of any on such short notice.
26. What did you want to be when you were little? A torch singer in a piano bar.

27. What is your best childhood memory? Any time, all times with my grandmother.
28. Are you a cat or dog person? Dog

29. Do you work? I pot. I'm a potter. I'm an artist. I am. At the moment, that’s my job. Do I love it? I love it. Can I make a living at it? THAT is the multi-bizionnaire question. Am I any good at it? I think I could be headed in that direction. Will my timing be perfect? I would hope so but who can tell?

30. Always wear your seat belt? Who wants to know?

31. Been in a car accident? Not exactly

32. Any pet peeves? OMG…… let’s see, stupid people, people who drive with their cell phones..and it’s not that I mind THAT so much, but when they’re obviously engrossed in a long conversation so they can’t pay attention to who is around them; people who don't take the time to delve deeper into any kind of meaning whatsoever; trendiness, it's gets old; cliches, those get old fast; people who talk with their mouths full; people who are like the interrupting cow......Moo; people who KEEP mentioning themselves and all their accomplishments - get it folks, humility is a wonderful thing, if you're that great, we're not going to forget about you; people who think they have rhythm but they don't - oh wait a sec, that's just seriously funny, never mind; and finally, and I mean this, people who just don't "get it", and it's not because they are in any way impaired, but they don't want to exert the effort, nor do they want to be responsible for anything in their own lives, they want to lean so absolutely on you, on your work, on your life, on your effort at figuring life out that they think they're coasting - but they're not, because still, at the end of the day, at the end of their lives, still - they'll stand before God and have to account for what they've done with what God gave them, not what they latched themselves onto. ****and thank you folks, that concludes my message for this morning****

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? Pepperoni, sausage, pineapple, bell pepper, onions, mushrooms and olives…..all the time. Perfect combination!

34. Favorite Flower? Gerber daisies

35. Favorite ice cream? Yes! Ice cream is my favorite!

So there we are!

TECHNOLOSER

See those keys? The keys, just to the left, on the keyboard?

THAT keyboard is what is familiar to me. That's what I grew up with, know how to do, and that is what is evidently creating in me a horribly aged and inept feeling that keeps lingering close by.

I have a cell phone, and I even know how to text, much to the amusement of my children's friends whose parents are apparently not quite so hip.

The other day, in all of my smug, techno-coolness, I was ripping off the beginning of what was to be a very long, very funny, email to my daughter. I wasn't looking at the keys because I was so confident in what I was doing - it's all in the counting of the keys, I told myself, tap, tap, tap on the "7" key gives me an 'r', one more tap is the 's'. Most letters I use, I have come to realize are three taps on different keys, I use a lot of 'r's, i's, o's, and c's. Who knows why? All this to just say, that my hip-mom, techno-coolness world came crumbling down like ... hmmm. .... like what?......I should be good at the adjectives here, ... came crumbling down like .......like leaves falling in an autumnal breeze? No, too slow and lingering. Like water droplets off a shaking dog? No. That's too wet and dog-smelly. Maybe it's just as simple as a house of cards, crashing down quickly in a mille-instant. Yes, that's probably it. All at once I looked down at my phone because some letter didn't feel right..... what did I see? Two and a half lines of jibberish. In less than one tenth of a breath, my self-appointed coolness was gone. I felt really silly dumb. I had just wasted probably three minutes getting thumb cramps and probably signing up for early hand arthiritis, for what? Nothing. All at once I wished my daughter was there becasue she would have cracked up, and glad that she wasn't at the same time because I would never live it down and it would have been future fodder for all family gatherings to come. I couldn't tell you now what the funny story even was. And it was a good one, too!
And so, uncool, I'll go back to what I know - showing what I've been working on the last few days and trying to figure out how to get my voice and my art, out to the world.

Kate

Striving to Get On Board With This

Again, with the not 'blogging' in ages. Seriously, I'm trying to get regular with this, but it's been difficult to make regular entries when I've let myself just sort of flail around like a fish out of water after leaving my job. My job, my job, I LOVED my job.

So now it's been months, I've gotten used to it, sort of, and seem to be settling into some kind of pattern of producing some actual work.

It's 'work' to actually have to produce something creative MYself ... I mean as opposed to just working for someone else and collecting a paycheck. I did love those days, mind you, but there is something sort of raw and earthy about knowing that if you don't get a move on, *(Word: If I don't get a MOOOOveON)* and push MYself, NOTHING WILL GET DONE, and I'll have no one to blame but MYself. I hate that. I really hate it when it all falls on me.... I've no one else to shoulder my lack of creativity, or time management, or continuity of effort. Blechh....... just me. So I may as well get to it.

Attached, or next to, or on the side, wherever they get plugged in, are my latest ceramic efforts, which should keep me entertained for a while. I'm off the sewing for the time being and only in love with clay at the moment. Tell me what you think. Seriously!

Switching Mediums for a bit

So... in case anyone noticed, I haven't been around for a while. My wide range of interests took me outside where the weather was just so so so beautiful, and into my back yard to work on my potting wheel.

Because I have such a wide range of interests it's hard for me to stay with one thing for terribly long, and my sweet, sweet stack of wonderful fabric, is just sitting in my sewing room, waiting to welcome me back as soon as the summer gets too hot, or my hands get too sore or I run out of clothes that I like, to wear. Or I'm magically inspired again, which will be sometime soon, I'm sure.

Anyway, my love of all things clay, and the texture of it, and the quiet it brings me, and the fact that it ends up being me, outside, with my big, big dog, fooling around on my potting wheel, listening to the birds, and thinking in long long run-on sentences to myself --- has taken me to creating wall pieces. I did some bowls, and then I did some little wall pockets .......eh, they were okay, nothing really to write home about, but my latest little thing are these wall hangings.......I guess you'd call them that...... and so I'm posting a couple of pictures of them, still in raw clay form.........now to wait for them to dry and fire them.

I'm always in love with my new projects and it's the same with these........and they are the primary star (hopefully) in creating a nice little pot of money with which to put a down payment on my house - which could be selling later this year, and hopefully to us. (We're renting)

So I'm going to sell these on etsy.com and anywhere else I can hustle them, and work, work, work, until I've made the requred cash. I'm hoping by selling them for a nominal price, $5, $10, $15-$25, I can get a lot of people interested, especially since I'll do special orders and will also have a wonderful line of Christmas stuff probably in August.

So... if you've got any other ideas that I maybe haven't thought of - hit me back.

Kate